Wednesday, September 17, 2014

What's missing from this picture?


I was on my way into work this morning, having just hit the long downhill from the Reservoir in Central Park as you head south towards downtown, when the bolt holding my saddle onto my seat post failed.  I was going maybe 25 mph, and needless to say, it was quite intense.  The bolt itself snapped loudly, and then, of course, I had to catch myself before tumbling backwards off of my bike.  For a long moment, I thought I was going down, but good bike handling saves both lives and skin.

A woman riding next to me said, rather helpfully, "I think you lost something off your bike."

"Really?" I said.  "I hadn't noticed."

I couldn't place her accent--probably because of the blood pounding behind my ears from my racing heart--but she was definitely European.  Not French.  Swiss?  We'll never know. 

A guy running grabbed my saddle for me, and I found the bottom bracket that holds the seat to the post. I had to get a new top bracket and bolt at Toga! today, but that's no great loss. I obviously needed a new one. 

And now here we are, good as new. 


Whew.  All-in-all, it was an exciting start to a typical Tuesday.

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